A living red crowned dragon and one reanimated attack a murric wyvern for its egg, each having his own goal in mind...

About this creation

Today, on the 22nd of february, 2012 is my second MOCiversary, for which I have built this special, triple-dragon diorama (actually it's two dragons and a wyvern).

I can't belive it's been two years... Feels like 5. Anyways, I can't really say I've done as much progress as last year, but then I started from scratch. It was my golden year though, hoping third is platinum!

First year was fun, of course, learning so much about style, techniques, photography, presentation... I built in multitudes of themes, ranging from castle (mostly minifigs and vignettes) to space through city motorbikes (which reminds me - I still haven't uploaded my summer bikes)... I made lame comics at which I laugh becasue their low quality and occasional moderately funny jokes, I actually came to "Popular this week" in the first year (but more to the end).

To me, those goals are incredible, they were and they still are. But you guys may better remember my Pokeball ranting, my MOCathalon entries perhaps, the bet-winning Sanctuay, Seaside sanctuary or my MOColympics volcano, which was my first dragon. Maybe you remember the War Galley with its working ballista?
Yes, those are some stuff I really like, but I think I didn't come very far since the MOCathalon... When I look at Carving of a Sphynx, I still like it, and even though I can make it better now, it's mostly because of my larger amounts of bricks. Getting a whole crapload of gray and green and transparent and lime really helped me build as I wanted to all that time. I made Sanctuary, I made the Batros Mecha and Svarun Sentinel Tank, I made my It's Not Much, but it's Home, and now, with my dark tan bricklink order, I'll break the sound barrier again.

Well, What I'm most known by at the moment is probably my rudeness, dragons and I noticed some people think I have like a really dirty mind? Just because I made one "that's what she said!" comment? To a person with whom I arranged an aporpriate description to respond to that way? Never mind.

So my dragon building began almost half a year ago, when I made my 32167 MOC. It was a moderately decent dragon with its baby and the reason I'm writing these long biological descriptions. I picked it up three months after with Taming and continiued with my MOCoff against Stormbringer (I have had the idea of a MOCoff with him since the MOColympics) and here we are, with three more dragons. It's definetely one of the hardest themes to build in, but it's well worth it, for personal enjoyment and for you all, probably (or do you want me to build motorbikes again?).

I can't really say I learned much in this time, my starship building hasn't advanced much, since Jawbreaker (which nobody saw) I only made three more, none really capturing its epic. I did improve my landscaping a bit, with new rock techniques and all, but I already had good enough rocks on my Green apocalypse MOC.

Well, that would be pretty much it, just another day on MOCpages, just another day on Brickshelf, just another day on Youtube, just another day on FlickR, just another day in life. Every day is special, we don't need to celebrate years, when we have so much happening in months, weeks, days.

Lot's written here, I hope you read it, I spent hours on the text today and yesterday.

The crowned dragon (Draco Coronalis) is a very known species of dragon and may be very loyal to humans that prove themselves worthy of leading them in battle. This is why they are the commonly used elite troop in warlock armies.

Its diet consists primarily of beef and sheep in nature, but they will not hold back on any food that is offered to them, in certain quantities of course. Canibalism never occurs at this intelligent species of dragon, although they always enjoy the excellent taste of another dragon's egg.

This species tends to nest in high places, mostly rock formations rising over the greenlands below, but many warlocks will build towers to house them. The nest mostly has only one egg, but if there is enough food accessable, each mating produces exactly three eggs, the only time they lay two eggs is when the mother is ill.

These dragons mature relatively fast, which is understandable if compared by their, for dragons, short lifespan of roughly 100 to 150 years. They leave the nest flying for the first as whelps time at the age of 3, because their wings evolve very fast. If they learn to speak by the age of 10, they will be able to communicate with humans easily.

The childhood ends and gives place to adolescence at aproximately 20 years of age, 10 years later they are fit to fight and mate, but adulthood comes another decade after that. Even though they reach the state of the elder dragon, they do not hibernate, which is unique to this species. The state in question is reached at the age of 70, 5 years more or less. At 100 years of age they become more peaceful, but far more powerful than they were before. They will remain loyal to a good leader, but may even kill a pushing incompetent fool.

The mating cycle is 2.5 to 3.5 years, but if interrupted, the dragons will wait for another cycle to mate again. Interrupting variables are things like inability to find a nesting place, attack in the mating process, inability to find a mate and more.

There are a few obvious differences between male and female dragons. Male dragons have a small horn on the tip of the nose, whilist females do not, also male dragons have more spikes across the neck and smaller ones on the back than female specimen do. Females are also smaller than males.

The crowned dragon is an excellent firebreather, usually ejecting balls of flaming gasoline-like venom they have stored in special sacks across the neck and over the body. This venom does not burn though, unless reacting to the secondary venoms, the mentioned being added in small quantities, that is stored withing the fangs.

Hatching length is relatively small, somewhere around 3 studs (1 metre), they first fly at the length of aproximately 9 studs (3 metres), and reach some studs more or less than 15 (5 metres) at the beginning of adolescence. These dragons are from 21 to 30 studs (7-10 metres) long as an adult beast, growing for 15 to 21 more studs (to the length of 12-17 metres) as they slowly reach the elder dragon stage. These numbers apply to length of tail tip to nose.

The only sign of the elder dragon is a small tentacle formation under the chin.

These dragons are very practical for reanimation, since they are relatively plentiful, yet also very powerful. The crowned dragons have a reliable population that can be accessed in war between substance and death mages.

This concludes our lesson on the crowned dragon, one of the most useful battle dragons there are. But today is my MOCiversary and I have prepaired a triple lesson, two about dragons (precisely dragon and wyvern) and one about the basics of necromancy. Please bare with me today or scroll down and comment by saying it's nice.

This second species is the first time I'm sharing with you studies of wyverns, the two-legged dragons. Wyverns are dragons whose wings have devolved into back spikes, while the arms evolved back into wings, as many scientific theorists belive. But lately, an interesting theory has appeared within the scientific circles, backed up with archeological evidence, that the wyvern have evolved from four-winged dragons, which adapted to harsh environment, protecting their back with their smaller top wings. Wyverns also do not breathe fire.

The murric wyvern (Vyvernus Murris) is a species of electric wyverns. They have evolved ee-like electric capabilities to make up for the lack of firebreathing. Named for its vaguely cat-like head, they do not share the extreme weight with the cat the species is named after.

It is a mountainous species of wyvern and thus dines on sheep, goats and other mountain animals. The only time they attack humans is when they feel endangered, but the wyvern will always eat its "predator".

The murric wyvern does not build nests, because it carries its single egg around with it, heating it with weak electrical current. The whelp is free from the egg in roughly 4 months. If the mother lays two eggs, it will attempt to keep both of them warm and safe, but this mostly causes extreme physical and psychological stress that kills the wyvern.

A short time after hatching (3 months) the mother still carries her whelp with her across the mountains, dropping and catching it many times, so it learns to fly with the mother.Until reaching adolescence the whelp flies with the mother, learning vital skills it will need to survive. It will separate from its mother at the age of 5, half a year after reaching adolescence.

From ages of 4.5 years to 7 years lasts adolescence, after which the murric wyvern may mate. It will reach full adulthood at the age of 10, living up to 50 years.

These wyverns mate each year twice, in late spring, when the snow in the mountains melts and in mid-autumn, when the snow first falls. This mating cycle is very similar to other wyverns, except other species mosly live in warmer regions, where there is no snow to orient by.

There are some differences between male and female murric wyverns. Male specimen are brighter and have smaller, darker wings, horns angled higher. Females have noticably larger claws on the back of the legs.

The whelp measures from 2 to 3 studs (0.666-1 metre), first flying at 6 studs (2 metres) of length, adolescence sizes are 15 to 27 studs (5-9 metres), growing for up to 30 more studs (to length of 20 metres) from tail tip to nose over the remaining years.

Wyvern reanimation is very practical, since they are (for draconites) short-lived and do not rely on firebreathing in battle. Their lower intelligence (do not let this decieve you, they are still cunning creatures) makes them easier to controll with weaker souls.

As you see, the wyverns are much simpler to explain generally than dragons, but in detail are still very complex beasts. This concludes drakonology for today, be sure to read the short lesson on necromancy while you're here!

Necromancy
In the six magical aspects (chaos, order, life, death, substance and illusion), necromancy is primarily categorized as death magic, but it is just a little more complex than that. There are three basic forms of reanimation – reanimation of spirit, body and being (both of the previous), necromancy is basically reanimation of the body, using a bound soul or a spirit of chaos. But necromancy can be performed with the use of science too, making it a subject ranging out of the study of magic. Please do not expect a full explanation of necromancy here, just as you would not expect a full teaching of the medical science or the study of the elements.

A general overview:
Necromancy is reanimation using science, death magic, illusion magic or a combination of chaos and death magic. The reanimated being is this way in the state of un-death, which is generally similar to the state of life, but is unable of reproduction and growth, leading to the lack of any needs and instincts. Something that has no passive meaning in existance tends to strive for higher goals, like destruction of life or its enslavement. A necromancer uses this state to lead, but in earning his or her place of leadership over the un-dead must mostly accept the lich transformation, since not many un-dead see living men as worthy of life’s destruction.
The lich transformation is a whole new chapter of necromancy which we won’t look into in even the remotest detail, but in basics it is the self-ressurection as an undead. It is recommended to have a goal as you perform it, or you may end as a servant to another necromancer.

Techniques of necromancy:
There are two very different ways of reanimation within necromancy – science (depending on nerve and muscle tissue, replacements often lead to biomechanical teachings. The unholy being is normally called an abomination) and magic (separating into three branches – zombification (unholy or chaotic soul), skeletal reanimation (unholy or chaotic soul) and spiritual reanimation (illusion magic)), here we will concentrate on magical reanimations.
Zombification is a process of reanimation where the tissue on the corpse has not yet dissolved. The soft tissues may impend the un-dead being’s movement and are a weak basis for the magical bonds keeping the zombie together, but the power at which it may strike is extremely powerful. Zombification is the most potent in the reanimation of mammals and amphibians.
Skeletal reanimation is the reanimation of skeletal remains of life. The magical bonds tie the bones together and fortify them, making a strong body, but leave the power only as strong as the protection is, excluding sharp claws, horns and teeth. This is why human skeletons are hardly useful – on a campaign of conquer zombification of enemies’ troops is far more practical than waiting for the meat to rot away, just to get a weaker minion. The perfect subject for this are wyverns, since they do not breathe fire and are naturally adapted to fight without its gift (dragons are just slightly weaker as skeletons than wyverns).
Spiritual reanimation is a field that mostly consists of illusion and death magic, but also has a significant aspect in life and chaos magic. It is recreating or returning of a soul (it is undeterminable, since nor science nor magic can answer the question of what is after death) to the living, and since it has no body, it is defined by the elusive word of “un-dead”.

Dragon reanimation:
Dragons are probably the best choice of reanimation, but require powerful souls or the rarest of alchemic or biomechanical materials, so it is not a beginner’s practice.
We will be learning a little of the classical skeletal reanimation using death magic.
First of all, killing a dragon to get the corpse may help, since dragon bones are generally sought by strong necromancers and are hard to come by. We proceed by burying the dragon, advised to bury it skinned, into an anthill, where the bones can quickly be stripped of any kind of flesh.
Now that we have a skeleton, we need a soul we can command to possess it and bind the bones together. That soul has to be bound in a soulstone that is always with us, so by breaking it we may banish it instantly. Through complex rituals we channel the soul from the soulstone and bind it to the skeleton.
If the necromancer is not powerful enough, but is capable of performing the rituals, there is another way of binding a soul that will never pose him or her a threat – soulstones can carry fragments of its owner’s soul, but the fragments can only be returned to their motherpiece if its owner is a lich, who has free transfer into and out of its soul.
Whenever such a dragon may be a threat to its necromancer, he or she must break the soulstone with the same hammer that shaped it. The mentioned is also the only thing that can break this powerful crystal. This is why many strong necromancers are armed with war-hammers and have heavy chainmail made of soulstones.

There is of course hundreds of thousands more words to say about this magic, but we have no time for that here. I thank you for bearing with me for this time and hope it will serve you well.

Quoting Lando L. Jackson
These dragons are really great, especially the wyvern. Also, Do you have a complete MOCAthalon team yet? It happens to be the last day of sign-ups, and I still do not have one.

Congratulations on two years! Man, those dragons are pretty cool and the rock work beneath them is totally awesome! Will you be gracing the pages with more of your dragons and rock work in the coming year? =D

These are all very cool! I think that the wyvern is the best. That pieces you used for horns turned out quite well! Personally I think the wyvern could take the other two down. An angered dragon parent is definitely dangerous. Of course then there is that dead dragon, so that is sort of a wild card. I like the bone dragons skeletal legs. Great dragons!

Quoting Eric 'Hawk' Mickle
Excellent dragons and some interesting (albeit long) descriptions. As I read through it I noticed some similarities to various themes, did you base the lore off anything? >Eric

Necromancy is loosely based on Warcraft, Diablo and Heroes of MIght and Magic, but the dragons are as mine as I could get them to be.

I saw these dragons in the dragon contest on Flikr. You are on fire. Even with four dragons in a short time, you have kept up the same level of detail through out. Great job! I hope your hard work pays off.

Almost reminds me of those TV commercials where they triple the offer if you call within the next few minutes. =P Awesome techniques for the mountain. And of course, those dragons are great. I think I like the red one best, but it's too close to call.

That rock is excellent! It really sets the tone for the whole MOC. It doesn't seem like an exciting feature next to your three dragons (also superb), but somehow that rock is what does it for me. The water fall in the foreground...perfect. Attack!

This looks very cool! Three dragons for the price of one, bonus lol I think I like the red one best. It's wings are brilliant. Sorry I'm far too lazy to read all you commentary ;-) Happy MOCiversary Deus!

Quoting Ben King
It's hard to believe how good you are at dragons considering how long you have been making them. I really like the blue dragon, it looks very majestic. The wings are done very well. Are your dragons fragile?

Well, it took more time to position them tahn it did to build them. If I don't count the constant rebuilding when they practicaly exploded. Bone dragon is surprisingly the sturdiest...

Amazing! Truly amazing! Just if you could tell me how you made the heads not to big... I just finished a dragon head from the inheritance cycle... but... its not close to as good, Good luck in the MOCathalon

It's hard to believe how good you are at dragons considering how long you have been making them. I really like the blue dragon, it looks very majestic. The wings are done very well. Are your dragons fragile?

Had to complete the thing. I did write the texts in word, but I was writing linsk for a long time and rather made the page and just edited it. I actually missed my MOCiversary for half an hour here in Slovenija.